Spartan Planning & Wealth Management Invests $2.14 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 11,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,143,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.0% of Spartan Planning & Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $0.62 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $196.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,280,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,985,059. The firm has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $201.42. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $180.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.82.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.